MCNALLY JACKSON
After making a splash in the UK, 28-year-old Irish writer Sally Rooney is now a sensation in New York. Her two novels, “Conversations with Friends” and “Normal People” (Hogarth) both explore modern, coming-of-age love affairs, and were recommended by almost every bookseller on this list.
“They go down like milkshakes, super fast. Super easy,” says Sam MacLaughin, a bookseller at McNally Jackson, which has locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Her stories are “not without their darkness but still very enjoyable.”
Another perfect summer read is Jenny Odell’s “How to do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy” (Melville House), claims MacLaughin, who says it “articulated a lot of vague feelings I’d been having about the Internet and looking at my phone too much — and brought clarity and resolve to my thinking about them (and everything else I’ve been missing).”
BOOKS ARE MAGIC
Ocean Vuong’s debut novel “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” (Penguin) is flying off the shelves at Brooklyn’s Books are Magic, making it one of the store’s top picks for summer. Written in the form of a letter to the narrator’s mother, the book takes the reader through the nuances of parental relationships, assimilating to America and the challenges of being gay. “It’s the kind of book that will make you stay inside reading for hours and hours because it’s so deeply pleasurable,” said store owner Emma Straub.
Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s first novel “Fleishman Is in Trouble” (Random House) is another popular pick. “It’s sort of about divorce, but it’s about friendship and love and getting older,” Straub said. “I guess it’s like a divorce rom-com but really also profoundly deep and moving and will also make you cry.”
THE CORNER BOOKSTORE
Peter Orner’s “Maggie Brown & Others” (Little, Brown) — a collection of 44 interconnected short stories — gets a big thumbs-up from The Corner Bookstore on Madison Avenue. Loosely bound by geography, the “very short” stories are anchored by a novella about a 40-year marriage and a whole era in a New England town, “and it’s really fantastic,” said Chris Lenahan, store buyer and manager.
History buffs, meanwhile, should pick up “The British are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777” (Henry Holt) by Pulitzer-winning Rick Atkinson. Packed with powerful portraits of characters like Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, Atkinson’s expert storytelling gives the book a widespread appeal. “I actually don’t love military history, but the way he writes it’s almost like you’re right there,” Lenahan said.
BOOK CULTURE
“Underland: A Deep Time Journey” (W. W. Norton), which plunges readers into the darkest underworlds on Earth and into the future, is selling well with customers at Book Culture’s four locations in the city.
Robert Macfarlane’s sequel to his bestseller, “The Old Ways,” “‘Underland’ is a cool nonfiction book that we’re really able to sell,” said general manager Nick Buzanski.
Another nonfiction pick is Michael Bobelian’s “Battle For The Marble Palace: Abe Fortas, Earl Warren, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and the Forging of the Modern Supreme Court” (Schaffner Press). The book focuses on America in 1968 and the nomination of Abe Fortas for chief justice of the Supreme Court — at a time when the country was roiled by culture wars. Great for anyone seeking more substance from their summer reading.
MYSTERIOUS BOOKSHOP
Juliet Grames’ debut novel, “The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna” (Ecco) gets the nod from The Mysterious Bookshop on Warren Street. Following the life of a young girl who believes she is cursed and her journey with her family from Italy to the United States, “it’s a multi-generational immigration story [with] a fascinating female protagonist,” said Mysterious Bookshop manager Thomas Wickersham. “Even if the time that she’s talking about is decades ago, it couldn’t be more relevant now.”
Meanwhile, Mona Awad’s “darkly funny” novel “Bunny” — about a scholarship girl who feels like an outsider in an MFA program filled with mean-girl cliques — is a great summer thriller. “She’s a very sharp writer and takes some unexpected turns,” said Wickersham. “It keeps you in suspense.